Phil's watching Doctor Who from the start to the finish at one episode a day starting with An Unearthly Child on 23/11/2010

Tuesday, 8 October 2013

More on those Missing Episode Rumours

"They...... shall not return"

Cyberleader Krang's prediction in Tenth Planet may seem a little off by the end of this week.

When I last wrote I last wrote on the subject of the missing episodes the estimate I came up with was that 45 episodes could possibly reside in the vaults of various television companies. Since then something has happened for me to raise that estimate upwards by 22 episodes.

It was believed that the TV Station film archive was destroyed in Sierra Leona during the war. Recent research indicates it wasn't - though where I saw the information no longer contains the posts it once did. However a Radio Times website article from June 19th specifically mentions that Missing Episodes hunter Phil Morris (who appears on the commentary for episode 5 of The Reign of Terror DVD talking about his work) has been working in that country.

So if we include the prints sold to Sierra Leone that are now thought not to have been destroyed in our list of potential missing episode returns we get this:

FIRST DOCTOR

STORY

COUNTRY

EPISODES

EPISODE COUNT

Marco Polo

EthiopiaJamaicaMaltaThailandMauritus

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

7

The Reign of Terror

GibraltarEthiopiaJamaicaMaltaThailandAdenTrinidad & TobagoRhodesia

4, 5

2

The Crusade

GibraltarEthiopiaJamaica

2, 4

2

Galaxy 4

Sierra Leone

1, 3, 4

3

Myth Makers

Sierra Leone

1, 2, 3, 4

4

The Masacre

Sierra Leone

1, 2, 3, 4

4

Celestial Toymaker

Sierra Leone

1, 2, 3

3

The Savages

Sierra Leone

1, 2, 3, 4

4

The Smugglers

Sierra Leone

1, 2, 3, 4

4

FIRST DOCTOR TOTAL

33

SECOND DOCTOR

STORY

COUNTRY

EPISODES

EPISODE COUNT

The Abominable Snowmen

GibraltarNigeria

1, 3, 4, 5, 6

5

The Ice Warriors

Gibraltar

2, 3

2

The Enemy of the World

GibraltarNigeria

1, 2, 4, 5, 6

5

The Web of Fear

GibraltarNigeria

2, 3, 4, 5, 6

5

Fury from the Deep

Gibraltar

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

6

The Wheel in Space

GibraltarNigeria

1, 2, 4, 5

4

The Invasion

Gibraltar

1, 4

2

The Space Pirates

Gibraltar

1, 3, 4, 5, 6

5

SECOND DOCTOR TOTAL

34

GRAND TOTAL

67

67 episodes potentially existing making up the bulk of what's missing in seasons 3, 5 & 6. That's quite a bit closer to the number 90 being quoted in earlier rumours. And if, maybe, a few other things have been found from other sources......

Meanwhile our old friend Bleeding Cool has kept the story rumbling in the background:

The Dad's Army episodes would seem to indicate that whatever's been found is part of a wider haul. Indeed a rumour a year or so back was that 6000 cans of material had been shipped to someone in Liverpool.

Then a story, that had started in fan circles and run on niche websites suddenly got mainstream media attention over then weekend and everything went Radio Rental